The kids are out of school and daylight stretches well into evening, so relax by cracking open a book. What book, though? Kent Countians seem to be revisiting favorite characters and authors, and discovering new ones via TV and movies.
Marie Shane, manager at Atlantic Book Warehouse, said kids aren’t the only ones with free time to read in the summer. While kids are browsing, parents often look for themselves. They also see a lot of readers popping in for a quick stop on the way to the airport or vacation.
Series
It’s no surprise to find Janet Evanovich’s “Sizzling Sixteen” is at the top of many readers’ lists this summer. The Stephanie Plum series has produced bestseller after bestseller, and local librarians say Kent County readers love her, too.
The verdict is still out, however, on Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy, “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” “The Girl Who Played with Fire” and “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.”
Kent County Public Library’s Denise Cayz said Larsson’s books don’t have a lot of requests and she doesn’t field many questions about them. For Atlantic Book Warehouse manager Marie Shane, however, she gets questions about the Larsson books even when she’s not working. She said people are more curious about them than they are interested in actually reading them, though.
That’s not the case at Dover Public Library.
“We can’t keep him on the shelves and I’m sure we won’t long after the movie is released,” said Sue Ray, head of adult services at Dover Public Library.
The Millennium trilogy’s movies are already in production or released in Sweden, where they are set, and American versions are in the works.
Movies tend to boost awareness and interest in the books they generated from, so Ray said patrons have re-discovered “The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold, “Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief” by Rick Riordan, the “Twilight” series by Stephenie Meyer, “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy and others.
Another hit is the Charlaine Harris series that spurred HBO’s hit series “True Blood.” Harris started the series featuring telepath Sookie Stackhouse and a southern town full of vampires, werewolves and other supernatural characters in 2001, but its current popularity is largely in part due to the TV show and its fervent followers.
“We have a very hard time keeping these on the shelf,” Ray said. “Our patrons constantly put these items on hold so as soon as they are returned, they immediately go to the next person on the list. They never even make it to the shelf.”
